


Redemption

by RewriteTheStars5218



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Cara Dune is the friend Mando deserves, Episode 8 and beyond, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Injury, MandoWhump, Mild Cursing, Recovery, Some mentions of blood, Spoilers for chapter 8 (you have been warned), The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, The Mandalorian and Cara Dune, The Mandalorian and Omera, hurt!Mando
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22051675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RewriteTheStars5218/pseuds/RewriteTheStars5218
Summary: I am a sucker for hurt/comfort so I wanted to write/expand on when Mando gets injured from the E-Web generator exploding. I’m also changing what happens after IG heals Mando because I think he should be a little more messed up after getting caught in an explosion and getting tossed around by a TIE fighter.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 96
Kudos: 562





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There will be slight changes to episode 8, but only in small details.  
> My knowledge of Mandalorian culture and general Star Wars lore is pretty limited. I have seen the Clone Wars series and part of Rebels, but I am not an expert so if parts of this story doesn’t match with the lore I apologize. I simply want to write a good story but if there are errors that cannot be ignored please let me know and I will edit if needed.

“Or perhaps the decommissioned Mandalorian hunter, Din Djarin...”

Cara whipped her head around to look at Mando. She was shocked when the Imp called her out by her full name and planet of origin, but hearing the Imp call Mando out by his full name...that truly stunned her.

From what little she knew of Mandalorian culture (most she was picking up from Mando himself) she was pretty sure they didn’t give out their full names to people outside their clans.

She couldn’t see his face, but judging by the way Mando snapped his head up, she was pretty sure he was stunned too.

The Mandalorian couldn’t believe what he just heard. He looked out the shot-out Cantina window towards the caped Imp in stunned silence. No one outside his clan knew his true name. To hear this Imp say it confidently, as if he knew Din personally, shook him to his core.

The Imp continued his monologue. “...has heard the songs of the siege of Mandalore when gunships fitted with similar ordnance laid waist to fields of Mandalorian recruits in the night of a thousand tears.”

Cara could feel the emotions radiating off Mando as the Imp spoke. She heard about the siege of Mandalore, but admittedly knew very little about what actually happened. Just whispers about it here and there.

She watched as Mando slowly walked closer to the window seemingly unaware of his current surroundings.

Cara barely knew Mando, but she knew the man wasn’t shaken very easily. After all, it was his idea they go up against an AT-ST with minimal weaponry. 

Despite their disadvantage that day, Mando was set on protecting the village. She never saw his confidence waver, even when they were being chased through the jungle. 

But now, Mando looked rattled, distracted, lost in a wave of emotion and memories. The Imp continued talking, addressing Karga briefly, but Cara was still locked in on Mando, wondering what painful memories were washing over him.

When the Imp mentioned the night of a thousand tears, a flood of emotions washed over Din. He was still a child, a foundling, when the siege on Mandalore was raging.

It was around the same time Din watched his home world attacked by the Separatists super battle droids; when his parents sacrificed their lives to save his; when a Mandalorian in blue and grey armor rescued him and changed his life forever.

Din could hear Cara and Greef bickering, but all Din could focus on was this Imp. How could he know his name. The only way would be if he had access to the registers at Mandalore. 

Then a name came crashing into his memory. 

“What about you Mando?” 

Din finally broke free of his memories when Greef addressed him. 

“I know who he is.”  
————————————————————————

Cara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was told Moff Gideon was executed. All the Rebel troops knew this, but Mando was positive the man before them was Gideon. 

It made sense. If Gideon was an ISB officer during the purge, he would have access to Mandalore’s records. He probably had access to just about every record in the quadrant. 

_That’s how the bastard knew who they were._

Din was trying to reach Quiil when a familiar coo’ing came over the coms. Relief flooded over him at hearing the child’s voice, but then IG-11 broke in, giving him the news that Quiil had died. 

Din felt his heart sink. This was his fault. He dragged Quiil into this and now he was dead.

Din quickly shifted his focus back to IG-11 because that damn hunter droid had the child. He would mourn his friend later, if he managed to survive the day.

Din didn’t trust the droid. “What did you do?” he demanded.

“I am fulfilling my base function.” the droid replied coldly.

Din knew Quiil reprogrammed the droid, but he still didn’t trust him. This droid was a killer, something he didn’t think Quiil could change.

“Which is?” 

“To nurse and protect.” came the dry reply.

The trio barely had time to formulate a plan before they hard blaster shots in the distance. Cara and Din approached the window in time to see IG-11 come screaming in on a speeder bike, blasting every storm trooper in it’s path. 

They watched as IG ditches the speeder and sent it crashing into the sea of storm troopers. Nestled in a satchel strapped around IG was the child, seemingly uninjured. 

IG’s explosive entrance temporarily distracted the storm troopers and Din knew they would not have a better chance than that moment.

Din yelled for Cara to cover him as he stormed out of the Cantina, blasting anyone who was in range. 

Surprisingly, Greef followed suit and the firefight was on. 

They had the upper hand thanks to IG’s explosive entrance, but they were still wildly outnumbered and soon the storm troopers started regaining the upper hand. 

Din looked around, desperate to find a way to end the fight. That’s when he saw the E-Web, sitting unattended. 

He had attempted a similar attack the day he found the child, when him and IG were stuck in a similar firefight. It worked for them then.

Din didn’t hesitate. He bolted for the E-Web, picked the heavy gun up and began firing on the storm troopers. 

Between the 4 of them and the added firepower they were holding their own. They still were outnumbered, but the E-Web and IG helped level the playing field. 

It was then that Din heard an explosion come from the Cantina. 

Cara! 

Din turned towards the Cantina, wanting to go help his friend, but a blaster shot caught him in the shoulder, reminding Din that the fight outside was far from over. He went back to firing at every storm trooper he could see, praying that Cara would find her way out of danger.

Din was doing a decent job at leveling the storm troopers when he was nearly knocked down by a blaster shot to his back.

Cara was recovering from being attacked in the Cantina when she heard Mando shout out. Worried her friend was in trouble she started making her way to him.

Din recovered from the pain and surprise of the blaster shot and reeled around to see none other than Moff Gideon staring him down. 

Din felt all of his anger bubble up to the surface. In front of him was a man who symbolized everything he despised. If he could kill this Imp, he could bring some honor back to the Mandalorian’s, he could get his revenge for the death of his parents. 

Din readied the E-web just as Gideon took aim at him. Din was sure he could fire the E-Web before Gideon could land a meaningful shot on him. He could handle being shot in his beskar armor. 

As Din was about the fire the weapon Gideon’s gaze switched from Din to the generator powering the E-Web. 

Din barely has time to register Gideon’s sudden target change when he was hit with a violent explosion. The force slammed into his body and sent him flying about 20 feet back from where he stood. 

Din was completely disoriented. The bright flash from the blast temporarily blinded him and the crashing pain from the explosion made it impossible for him to focus on anything else. 

As he slammed violently into the ground his world went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is not going to stray too far from the show material. I really see the story diverging from the original after the TIE Fighter scene. Obviously I will be adding/changing some small details, but I really liked how this scene was done in the show. Hopefully you all enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this story. This is my second fanfic and I am still pretty nervous of how my stories will be received. Thanks to those who left comments. I loved reading them and they have really motivated me to continue on.
> 
> I am not sure how old Din was when the great purge occurred, my best guess was around the time he was taken in by the Death Watch. If any of you know how old Din would had been during the purge let me know and I can edit the story.

The explosion was strong enough to knock Greef back into the outer structure of the Cantina. 

The explosion rocked the whole building, startling Cara as she was making her way outside. 

She stumbled and ducked down, not knowing the severity of the explosion or if it would be enough to bring parts of the building down on top of her.

IG was the only one unaffected by the blast. He saw the Mandalorian get thrown to the ground and it only took a quick scan to know he was severely injured. 

Quiil had programmed him well. 

IG quickly made his way back towards the entrance of the Cantina to help provide cover.

Once Cara regained her footing she dashed out the doors prepared to fight. When she got outside she did a quick scan and saw that the E-Web was completely destroyed and on fire. It was probably the source of the explosion. 

It was then that something shiny caught her attention. She looked down and to the right of where she stood. 

What she saw made her stomach drop.

There was Mando, sprawled out on the ground, completely unmoving despite all the chaos raging around them. 

Cara quickly holstered her weapon and ran to her friend. Only then did Greef noticed that Mando had been caught up in the explosion. He starting shooting to provide cover for Cara along with IG, who had made his way to them.

Cara didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Mando by his chest plate and sat him up. 

Her panic only worsened when Mando didn’t respond to the harsh movements. 

She was able to get behind him and wrap her arms under his and hoist him up. Mando was far from the biggest person she had to carry to safety, but he was dead weight in her arms and the Beskar armor was not exactly helping. 

Cara was strong though, and her adrenaline was in overdrive so the added weight of the Beskar did little to slow her down. 

Suddenly, flashbacks of her times as a Rebel fighter threatened to creep into her mind.

She shook her head, fighting off the memories of dragging her fallen comrades out of heavy firefights during the war. 

Comrades who did not survive. 

She shook her head again. Now was not the time to get distracted.

She half carried/half dragged Mando back into the Cantina followed closely by IG. Greef was the last one inside. Once he was clear of the doors IG activated them and and they slammed shut.

Greef and IG headed straight for the grate that covered the entrance to the tunnels to try to figure out a way to get inside. 

Cara’s attention was solely on Mando, who still hadn’t made a single movement since she found him. 

Her mind was racing trying to figure out what could had happened. Her best guess was that he had been caught up in the explosion, based on where she found him and the flaming rubble surrounding him. 

The fact that he hadn’t regained consciousness yet scared her. She couldn’t handle the thought of losing another friend to the Empire. 

“Stay with me buddy.” she pleaded. 

Mando didn’t move. 

She felt the walls that kept her emotions in check start to crack. There was a lump forming in her throat that made her voice crack. 

‘Stay with me.” she pleaded.

————————————————————

Din’s consciousness slowly returned to him. 

He wasn’t sure where he was, only that he was lying on something hard. 

He cracked open his eyes and instantly regretted it as a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him. 

He slammed his eyes shut, but the dizziness didn’t lessen and he was suddenly aware of the throbbing pain radiating throughout his skull.

That’s when he heard her. 

“Stay with me.” 

Was that Cara? She didn’t sound the same. Had she been injured? Din wanted to sit up but found he couldn’t. He suddenly realized his body would not obey him. 

Why couldn’t he move? It was then that his brain finally registered that he was in bad shape. 

His whole body was screaming in pain and Din was suddenly wishing he would pass out again. 

He was also having troubles breathing. He tried to take in a deep breath but instantly regretted it. 

The sharp pain that flared up in his chest was enough to make his vision swim. He gritted his teeth and tried to breath through it, but the pain didn’t go away.

He tried to focus on what was going on around him, but his vision would not clear up. He also had a very hard time getting his brain to focus on anything. It was as if his mind was in a heavy fog.

Din had been injured before, but nothing quite like this. 

The Mudhorn did a number to him not too long ago, but in the end he was able to walk away from that fight. 

He began to doubt he would walk away from this one. 

There was movement to his left and he turned his head to face it. 

His vision swam but he was finally able to make out Cara, who was kneeling to the side of him. 

He could feel her hand behind his head and he could feel the wetness that was starting to saturate the material around his neck. 

_Definitely not a good sign._

“I’m not going to make it.” he managed to breath out. “Go.” 

Damn, he sounded terrible.

Cara couldn’t believe what she heard. Sure she hadn’t known him for very long, but Mando was not a quitter. 

“Shut up.” she said, trying her best to pretend she wasn’t terrified of losing him. “You just got your bell rung. You’ll be fine.” 

She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince Mando of this, or herself. 

“Leave me.” he said, his words sounding weaker by the second. 

Cara felt anger well up in her at his demand. Did he really think she was going to leave him there?

She shifted her arm so she could turn Mando towards her and give him a throughout ass chewing, but she suddenly felt something warm and wet coating her hand.

Her anger was quickly replaced with dread. Any words that she was about to shout at him died in her throat as shes slowly pulled her hand back. 

Cara’s eyes widened. She couldn’t hide the panic she felt when she saw his blood on her hand. 

Din recognized the look in her eyes. She knew. 

Cara tried to regain her composure. She wasn’t about to give up on him. 

“I’m going to need to take this thing off.” she said as she reached for his helmet. 

“No!” he said as he grabbed her hands. “You leave me!” 

This was more than her seeing his face. He was scared that the longer she waited, the more danger they would be in. He needed her to survive; to take the child and get out of there. She was the only way the child would survive. He wanted them both to survive.

Din got a little burst of adrenaline in that moment. Even though his thoughts were foggy he was able to focus enough on what he had to do next.

He reached for his pendant, the symbol of the Mandalorians. With a trembling hand he was able to grab onto it and quickly pull it off his neck.

He held the pendant out to Cara, who reluctantly took it. He felt his mind becoming sluggish again. He didn’t have a lot of time. 

He was struggling to breath again. He told her that she had to take the child and find the other Mandalorians. She needed to show them the pendant.

“You tell them it’s from Din Djarin.”

He felt his vision start to darken at the edges again. He tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t. He closed his eyes and really tried to focus. He needed to tell her what to do before it was too late. 

He told her to tell them that the foundling was in his protection. Only then would they be willing to help them escape.

Cara was struggling to process what was happening. Mando just gave her his pendant, the symbol of the Mandalorians, something she was sure meant a lot to him.

He also told her to use his full name, and even though she heard Gideon say it a short time ago, it felt strange hearing Mando tell her his name. 

He wanted her to take the child. To keep it safe. It was then that Cara looked up and saw the little green womp rat standing off to the side. He looked worried as he stared at Mando. Poor little guy. He had been through a lot over the last few months. He needed Mando.

Cara turned back to Mando. There was no way they were leaving without him.

“Come on! Lets go!” Cara was done listening to him argue.

She reached down to lift him up, which drew a painful groan from Mando. 

He grabbed her hand.

“I’m not going to make it, and you know it.” 

Cara hesitates. She barely had time to process what he said before a sudden jet of fire shot through the whole Cantina. 

Cara dove over Mando, protecting him as fire flooded into the building. 

When the stream of fire subsided Cara sat up. She looked over at IG, who was still working on removing the grate. 

“You protect the child.” Din rasped.

She turned to Mando. There was so much going on she was having a hard time processing it all.

“I can hold them back long enough for you to escape.”

The last part Mando said quietly, as if he only wanted her to hear it.

“Let me have a warrior’s death.”

Death? Was he really content with dying in that moment? He was willing to give his life so they could survive. How many soldiers had sacrificed their lives to save hers? _No, not him!_

“I wont leave you!” Her words left no room for argument.

“This is the way.”

Cara stared down at him, speechless. She felt the lump in her throat grow larger, tears threatening to spill down her cheek. 

Before she could say anything another stream of fire spilled into the room. She dove over Mando again. 

When the fire died down she looked up to assess the situation. She glanced towards the front of the Cantina just in time to see the Incinerator Trooper walk into the room. 

Her eyes widened. Mando’s hand was still over hers. She took his hand in hers. 

Cara looked around the room. She saw the child and Greef looking at the trooper. Greef had the same look in his eyes that she must of had in that moment.

The Incinerator Trooper took aim with his weapon, and Cara shielded Mando again. This time she was prepared for the fire to consume them all.

She felt the intense heat radiate off her back and she closed her eyes. This was it. She sent up a silent prayer that it would be quick.

After what felt like a lifetime Cara realized that the flames were not engulfing her as she expected. She reluctantly looked towards the trooper. 

She couldn’t believe what she saw.

There was the child, hands up in the air, holding back the wall of fire.

Din was also waiting for the fire to overtake him. When he felt Cara lift up off of his body he looked up and saw the stunned expression on her face. The fire had not reached them.

Despite his injuries Din managed to sit up. He knew the child had to be behind this.

There was the child, standing with his hands up, keeping the wall of fire from overtaking them. 

Din looked on in amazement. It wasn’t much different from when he saw the child lift the Mudhorn from the ground. 

Din found himself wondering who was really protecting who in that moment. 

The child seemed to focus on containing the wall of fire for a few seconds, then with a flick of its little wrist he sent the fireball crashing back into the trooper. 

Cara would had bet credits that the child aimed the fireball right at the fuel tank the trooper had on his back.

With the imminent danger over, Din collapsed back onto the stone slab, the last remaining energy he had, spent.

Cara looked back to the child, who had collapsed from the exhaustion of performing such a powerful move. 

She still wasn’t sure what powers this child possessed, but whatever it was, it was powerful. 

Suddenly she heard the crashing of metal as IG kicked the grate off the entrance of the tunnels. 

“Go.”

Cara looked down at Mando, then out towards the burning Cantina. She was too overwhelmed to respond.

“Go.” Mando said again, his voice raspy and quiet. It really sounded like he was on the brink of losing consciousness. 

She stood up, letting go of his hand. She wanted to take him with. She only needed to figure out how to move him without hurting him more.

Then IG was next to her. He had gathered up the child and secured it in the satchel.

Before she knew it IG handed the bag to her. 

“Escape and protect the child. I will stay with the Mandalorian.”

Cara didn’t know what to do next. She looked into the bag and saw the sleeping child. She knew if they stayed any longer the heat and smoke would overtake them.

She quickly grabbed her weapon and marched up to IG.

“Promise me you’ll bring him!” she demanded. Her voice was thick with emotion.

“You have my word.” 

That would have to be enough. She knew Mando wouldn’t forgive her or himself if anything happened to the child. She had to trust that the battle droid’s nursing programming would be enough to save her friend.

She looked back at Mando one more time before she disappeared into the tunnels.

She prayed IG wold keep his word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up taking longer and ended up being longer than I expected. I love this scene in the show and I really wanted to give it additional detail.  
> I hope you all enjoy it. If you have any constructive criticism please let me know. I am always down for changing my stories around if I have made any mistakes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I am really enjoying writing this story and it makes my heart happy to know that you all are enjoying it too. I’m lousy when it comes to responding to comments, but I want you to know that I read them all and they mean the world to me.  
> I never thought I would be any good at writing fanfic, but I really enjoy it and your wonderful comments help keep me motivated.  
> Thank you 💕

Din heard IG walk up in front of him. Pain and exhaustion were threatening to overtake him. 

It was okay though, the child would be safe. Cara would see to it. 

He glanced up at IG. Maybe the droid could end his suffering.

He’d rather be killed by it than burn to death or worse, be captured by the Empire. 

“Just do it.” Din said coldly. “I’d rather you kill me than some Imp.”

IG couldn’t understand why the Mandalorian refused to accept that it had been reprogrammed. 

“I told you, I am no longer a hunter. I am a nurse droid.”

Despite Din’s condition, he still became frustrated with the droid. 

“All IG’s are hunters.” 

IG looked out at the burning Cantina. Judging by how furious the place was burning, it calculated they didn’t have much time. 

“Not this one.” IG was done trying to get the Mandalorian to understand. 

“I have scanned you and found you have multiple injuries, few which are quite severe.”

If Din was feeling any better he would had rolled his eyes at the droid’s obvious statement. 

“Your vitals are critical. You need immediate medical assistance. I must remove your helmet if I am to save you.”

IG reached out and grabbed the bottom of the Mandalorian’s helmet. It paused when it saw a blaster pistol being pointed right at it. 

“Try it, and I’ll kill you.” 

IG just stared at him. The Mandalorian’s actions did not make sense. It could hear his breathing becoming more labored and ragged. Why would he turn down medical assistance when his life was slipping away?

Din could sense the confusion in the droid by the way it kept glancing from the blaster to his face. 

Maybe it was because of his head injury, but Din decided to help the droid out. 

“It is....forbidden. No living thing has seen me without my helmet since I sw...swore the creed.” 

Damn, it was getting harder to breathe. 

IG just stared at the Mandalorian. It assumed that someone who seemed to have a clear bias towards droids would see the error in that statement. 

The answer was a simple one. 

“I am not a living thing.” 

Din was at a loss for words. He hated this droid, even though it was proving itself to be a suitable caretaker for the child. 

However, despite his hate, it never dawned on him that IG wasn’t considered a ‘living thing’. Maybe he didn’t hate the droid as much as he claimed.

IG sensed the change in the Mandalorian’s demeanor. Even though he didn’t lower his blaster, IG determined it was safe to remove his helmet. 

Din heard the click and hiss of the helmet as IG slowly removed it. The dry, hot air crashed into his face. 

Still, he didn’t dare lower his weapon. 

“According to my scans, you suffered the most critical damage to your central processing unit.” 

_Did this droid just call his brain a central processing unit?_

“I am applying Bacta spray to the damaged area. It will take a couple hours for it to take full effect.”

Din felt the cool spray hit the back of his head. He lowered his blaster as the spray slowly began to tingle and numb his wound. 

Bacta was a wonderful thing. 

“The Bacta infusion should help heal your other injuries, but I calculate that you will need more infusions to completely heal from the damage your body has sustained. You have multiple rib fractures that are compromising your breathing and you have a concerning number of bruises and lacerations covering your body.” 

Din didn’t doubt the droids assessment. He already knew he broke a few ribs when his attempts to take a meaningful breath nearly made him pass out. 

Still, the Bacta spray was already taking affect. He felt his head get less cloudy and he was finally able to move his body (although it was still very painful). 

Din suddenly felt the urge to go after his friends. 

He had accepted that he was going to die, but now that IG had patched him up, he wanted nothing more than to find his covert and be reunited with Cara and the child. 

Still, Din knew he couldn’t get to them on his own. The Bacta was working, but it would be another few hours before he felt any meaningful affects. 

“Help me up.” Din said dryly. He grabbed his helmet and, despite some difficulty, placed it back over his head. 

“I do not advise that you move, the Bacta infusion still needs time to take effect.”

Din felt his frustration building up again. 

“Look behind you. Do you really think we have that kind of time?!” 

IG turned around and saw that the Cantina was still burning uncontrollably. 

“No, we do not have adequate time left in this structure.”

“Then help me up. I can’t walk without your help.”

Din hated asking IG for help, but at this point his pride would just have to take the hit.

Besides, Din appreciated that the droid was willing to accept it was wrong from time to time. Maybe Din was wrong about the droid after all. 

IG leaned down so Din could grab onto its arms. Slowly IG lifted him up, careful not to go to fast.  
It used its other arm to help stabilize him. 

Once IG was confident the Mandalorian would not collapse they slowly made their way to the entrance of the tunnel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to write this chapter instead of sleep lol. I just wanted to get the whole Cantina scene finished. Hopefully it doesn’t feel rushed. I will reread it tomorrow and edit anything that I feel I didn’t write well. 
> 
> My hope is to get another chapter finished tomorrow. I would love to get through the TIE Fighter scene, but I think that part will be long and I don’t want to rush it. If all goes well I should have them facing off with Moff Gideon by the end of the next chapter.
> 
> As always, if you have any constructive criticism I welcome it. Hopefully you all are still enjoying the story!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited some grammatical inconsistencies in the first three chapters thanks to the suggestion of one of my commenters. Writing the story on my phone wasn’t the best idea, but I really wanted to get it started before I lost the motivation to write. 
> 
> This chapter is a very long one. I had half of it written but my tablet crashed and I lost most of it and had to start over. 
> 
> I was trying to keep this part short, but so much happened that I didn’t feel I could leave out. I also thought of making this two chapters, but since this will be the last chapter where I don’t stray far from the source material I figured I would leave it as one long chapter.

Cara and Greef stayed close to the entrance of the tunnels. Cara refused to search for the Mandalorians without Mando and IG.

A loud crashing sound off in the distance spooked Greef.

“Maybe we should get going. We don’t know how long they are going to be or if they are even coming.”

Cara shot him a threatening glare.

“We are not leaving them!” she growled.

“I don’t want to leave them either,” Greef reasoned, “but who's to say that a squad of stormtroopers won't be the ones to greet us instead. Mando wanted us to get the child to safety didn’t he?”

Cara could only glare at him. She knew Greef made a good point. They had no way of knowing if IG could save Mando, or if they had been overrun by Stormtroopers.

She hadn’t heard any sounds of blasterfire, and she would had bet her last credits that Mando and IG wouldn’t had gone down without a fight.

“Just a little bit longer.” she said, more to herself than to Greef

Greef sighed and threw his hands up in frustration. He knew he wouldn’t be able to reason with her.

Just as Cara began to doubt she would see her friend again she heard a loud crash followed by heavy footsteps.

They both reeled around, blasters at the ready, waiting for whatever threat was about to come at them.

Cara fear soon turned to joy. She smiled and let out an audible gasp of relief as she saw IG and Mando appear before them.

IG had kept his word.

Cara and Greef ran up to greet them.

Din’s head was still swimming when they got to Cara and Greef.

He couldn’t believe that they waited for him. 

He wanted to be mad at them for not listening to him, but he couldn’t. In that moment a flood of emotions filled his chest. 

He was happy to see her.

Din heard coo’ing coming from the bag Cara had around her. He looked down and saw that the child was staring up at him with a look Mando could only describe as relief.

He reached his hand out and gently rubbed the child’s ear. He was happy to see the child was ok.

“Nice work back there little womp rat.” Din said, his voice sounding ragged.

Cara felt like crying at the sight of her friend standing in front of her. She studied him for a moment, and realized that, even though he was standing, he was still in rough shape.

She could see where his blood had seeped through the cloth between his armor, his posture was stiff and guarded, and he was walking with a very concerning limp.

She quickly handed the child over to IG and slung Mando’s arm over her shoulders, the movement drawing a pained grunt from him.

I’ve gotcha buddy.” she said, and Mando didn’t hesitate to lean on her for support. He felt safe standing next to her.

Greef appeared on the other side of Mando and grabbed his arm to offer additional support to the bounty hunter.

Din would normally turn down any form of assistance, especially from the likes of Greef, but in that moment he was simply happy to be alive and was grateful to have friends who were willing to look out for him.

Din carefully reached up and turned on the light on his helmet. The tunnels were dark and Din knew they would need as much light as they could get if they were to reach the covert.

Slowly, the five of them made their way through the labyrinth of tunnels. The way Din was staggering made Cara worry about how bad his head injury was.

Mando seemed too preoccupied with placing one foot in front of the other to offer any real guidance.

Cara growled in frustration as they rounded another corner and were met with nothing.

“Does any of this look familiar?” Greef finally asked.

Din just shook his head. He was use to entering the tunnels at a different location. It didn’t help that his mind was still pretty foggy from the explosion.

After a few minutes they turned down another tunnel, but this time Din recognized it.

“Wait,” he said, and the others stopped, staring at Mando as he scanned the tunnel.

Off to the right was another tunnel. Din nodded in its direction “It’s down that way.”

Finally they were on the right track. Din felt a sense of urgency wash over him. He wanted nothing more than to be reunited with his fellow Mandalorians. He never got to express his gratitude for them coming to his rescue that day.

Finally they came up to the entrance of the covert. Din nodded towards it. “This is it.” 

As they made their way into to covert Din was expecting to see the Mandalorians standing around, but the tunnel was empty. 

_Maybe they already left_

As they made their way down the tunnel Din was met with a sight that made his stomach drop. 

There ahead of them was a pile of discarded Mandalorian armor. 

Din slowly removed his arm from Cara’s shoulders and started walking towards the armor. 

Once he reached the armor he dropped painfully to his knees, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through his body.

Gently he picked up one of the helmets, the visor was completely destroyed.

Grief threatened to overtake him in that moment. How many people had died because of his actions? 

Cara slowly approached him. 

“We should go,” she said gently. She hated seeing Mando upset, but she knew the longer they waited, the more likely they would have to face down another squad of stormtroopers. 

Din didn’t respond.

His grief quickly turned into rage. The last he had seen his Mandalorian brothers they were fighting off the bounty hunters so he could escape. Had the hunters done this?

“Did you know about this?” Din asked, his voice dripping with anger as he glared towards Greef. “Was this the work of your bounty hunters?”

Greef was taken back by Mando’s accusations. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, as if he was suddenly aware of the danger he was in. 

“No,” he said defensively. “When you left with the prize the fighting ended and the hunters just melted away.”

Din just stared at the helmet, his anger building.

Greef continued. “You know how it is.”

Din knew exactly how it was. The hunters were only loyal to credits. They would turn on each other if it meant a big pay day. 

He wondered how many of the hunters were eyeing the valuable Beskar armor.

Din suddenly jumped up and turned towards Greef. 

“Did you do this?!” Din asked dangerously. 

Greef took a step back, to scared to answer. Mando was heading straight towards him and he suddenly wondered if Mando wouldn’t kill him on the spot. 

Din got right in Greef’s face. “Did you?!” he shouted, jabbing his finger into Greef’s chest.

Greef didn’t know what to do. He had to get Mando to believe him. 

“No!” Greef shouted back, preparing for a fight.

Suddenly, a calm voice filled the covert.

“It was not his fault”

All three of them whipped around. There in front of them walked another Mandalorian. 

Din couldn’t believe his eyes. The armorer had survived.

They watched as the female Mandalorian walked to the pile of armor, collecting a few Beskar pieces and placing them in a hovering bin.

She explained to them that shortly after the Mandalorians battled the hunters, the Imperials showed up. The pile of armor in front of them was the end result. 

Din was speechless. This was his fault. He wanted to ask the armorer a question, but he was afraid of the answer.

After a few seconds Din finally asked, “Did any survive?”

“I hope so,” she replied. 

Din looked back at the armor of his fallen comrades. An overwhelming sadness threatened to overtake him. 

He looked back to the armorer and asked her to come with them. He was not surprised when she turned down the offer. 

The armorer took hold of the hovercraft and walked it into an adjoining room. Din and the others followed. 

Greef placed a hand on his blaster. He was still shaken up by his encounter with Mando and wasn’t sure if the man would turn on him again.

The armorer notice of how stiff Din looked as he walked and how rough his voice sounded.

“You are injured” she said to him matter of factly.

Din gazed at the floor. “We were ambushed by the Imperials. They were trying to take back the child.”

“So I heard” she replied. “Judging by the commotion I am surprised you all made it out with your lives..’

This was the second time (that she knew of) Din risked his life for this child. The armorer wondered why Din would risk everything to insure it’s safety.

“Show me the one whose safety deemed such destruction.”.

Din glanced over at IG, giving the droid silent permission to show the armorer the child.

She was not prepared for how tiny the creature was.

“This is the one that you hunted, then saved?” She was now starting to understand why he had gone back for it.

“Yes. The one that saved me as well.”

The armorer recalled the story Din told her of the mudhorn. He had turned down her offer to make the mudhorn his signet because he was helped by an enemy. 

She now understood why he had said that the enemy did not know it was an enemy. 

Still, how could a creature so small be of any help against the likes of a mudhorn.

“It looks helpless.”

Din explained that the child was not helpless. He explained how the child was able to move things around with it’s mind.

This detail didn’t seem to surprise the armorer. 

She explained that long ago, Mandalore the Great fought against an order of sorcerers called Jedi, who fought with similar powers. 

Din was shocked. He had never heard stories detailing such an order. 

“Is it an enemy?” Din asked, concerned he brought death to the Mandalorians to save their enemy.

“No.” She relied simply. 

“Then what is it?” Din asked.

“It is a foundling.”

Din had always viewed the child as a foundling. How could he not. The child was without any parents when he found him. In a way he found this child in a similar manner that he himself was found. 

To hear the armorer declare the child a foundling simply made it official. 

The armorer went on to explain that it was now up to Din to reunite it with its own kind. 

Din had no idea where to even begin.

Cara was getting pretty uncomfortable standing around listening to the two Mandalorians talk.

“Hey, we need to start thinking of a way to escape.” She wasn’t sure how long they had before the whole place was crawling with Imps.

“I’m staying.” Din declared. There was no way he was leaving the armorer alone. There was also the small issue of all the injuries he was trying to ignore. 

With the shock of discovering the Mandalorians were killed by the Imperials fading, Din was suddenly aware that his injuries were far from being healed.

But the armorer wouldn’t have it.

“You must go. A foundling is in your care. By Creed, until it is of age or reunited with its own kind, you are as its father.”

Cara couldn’t help but smirk when the armorer basically told Mando he was this little womp rats father. 

Mando just stared at the child. Sure he saw the child as a foundling, but he never thought for a second he would act as the child’s father.

The armorer finished working on the piece of Beskar she had melted down. It was Din’s signet; the mudhorn. 

She had wanted to give the signet to Din before, but he declined. Now that she knew the child was a foundling who helped Din take down the huge beast, she knew that no other signet would be as fitting for him to wear. 

They were a clan of two now. 

The moment was interrupted when the group heard an explosion in the distance. The armorer sent IG out to take care of whoever was coming their way.

She had to send them on their way, but not without giving Din one more item.

When she asked Din if he had trained with the Rising Phoenix, he never expected her to hand him one of the jet packs. 

Din looked at the jetpack in amazement. 

“Once you have healed, you will begin your drills. Until you know it, it will not listen to your commands.”

Din had a vague memory of the jetpacks being...temperamental. 

There was a brief firefight out in the tunnels. Thankfully, IG emerged shortly after. Still, they needed to leave right away if they had any chance of getting out of the tunnels alive.

The armorer knew Din was more injured than he was letting on. She turned to the IG unit, jetpack in hand.

‘IG, carry this for Din Djarin until he is well enough to wear it.”

Cara noticed that the armorer used Mando’s real name in front of them. She wondered if it would be ok for her to call him by his real name now. It wasn’t like it was a secret anymore. 

Din tried to convince the armorer to leave with them, but she declined. Din hated leaving her behind, but he also feared for any Imp who would dare challenge her. 

He knew in his heart that she would be fine.

Din was the last to leave, and he was relieved when he realized he wouldn’t need help to walk. 

He might just survive the day after all. All he had to do was make it back to the Razor Crest. 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

It didn’t take long for the group to make it to the lava river. Thankfully there was a lava boat at the shore. 

Once aboard there wasn’t much to do besides wait. 

The boat would keep them safe, but the heat radiating off the lava flow was intense. 

Din felt his dizziness return as the temperature increased. He decided to focus on his feet and hope that their little boat ride was uneventful. 

Cara caught Din shaking his head slightly, as if it was trying to clear his head. She figured the only thing keeping him on his feet was his sheer stubbornness. 

She made a point to stand close to him in case his stubbornness wasn’t enough. 

Suddenly they heard the sound of rocks being disturbed on the shore. 

Din looked up quickly, preparing himself to find that the Stormtroopers had caught up to them. 

Apparently his brain did not appreciate the sudden movement, and Din’s vision swam. Before he knew it he was tilting wildly to the side, completely unaware of where his body was in comparison to the ground.

Thankfully Cara saw him falter. 

“Whoa buddy,” she said as she caught his arm and pulled him towards her before he pitched over the boat. 

Din slammed his eyes shut. His head was still swimming and it took all of him not to pass out. 

“Breath Mando,” he heard Cara say.

Din took a few deep breaths, and slowly the dizziness started to go away. He cracked open his eyes to see Cara, Greef and IG staring at him. 

He was still on his feet, but only because Cara was propping him up.

“You ok Mando?” Greef asked, clearly concerned.

“Yeah, I’m ok.” Din lied. He looked towards the shore and saw a group of lava otters playing on the shore. He would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t afraid it would cause another wave of dizziness. 

Din could hear IG’s eyes looking him up and down.

“It appears the Bacta infusion was not fully successful.” 

Din just looked up at him with mind annoyance. Why were droids so annoyingly obvious.

Din finally straightened up and stepped away from Cara.

“You sure you're ok?” Cara asked quietly.

“I’ll be fine once we get away from the lava river.” 

Somehow Cara knew the heat wasn’t his only problem. 

“There’s the exit!” Greef shouted. “We’re almost there!”

Din carefully made his way to the front of the boat. Something about this didn’t feel right.

Quickly, he activated his thermal scanner. 

“Shit,” Din whispered to himself. Looks like the fight wasn’t over yet.

He informed the others that there was a platoon of stormtroopers waiting for them at the mouth of the cave. 

There was no way for them to stop the boat to exit at the shore. 

They were sitting ducks.

Din was struggling to come up with a strategy to get them out of there when IG piped in. 

“They will not leave until they have the child. This is unacceptable. I will eliminate the enemy and you will escape.”

Din knew the droid carried some serious weaponry, but IG was at just as much of a disadvantage being stuck on the boat.

“You don’t have that kind of firepower pal.” Din quipped. “You wouldn’t even get to daylight.”

“That is not my objective.”

Din snapped his head around to look at IG, shocked. 

Greef and Cara were bickering about what needed to be done, but Din was still locked on IG. 

IG went on to stay that he still had his manufacturers security protocol. He was not allowed to be captured. 

Din knew what IG was hinting at. He remembered the first time he met IG. He had to tell the damn droid not to self destruct more times than he cared to count. 

IG put down Din’s jetpack. “I can no longer carry this for you.” 

It also removed the satchel containing the child and handed it to Din.

“Nor can I watch over the child.”

“Wait!” Din said. He was having a hard time keeping up with what IG was telling him.

“You can’t self destruct! Your base command is to watch the child. That supersedes your manufacturer’s protocol, right?”

Din didn’t know what had come over him, but he was not ok with IG blowing itself up. 

“This is correct” IG answered.

“Good.” Din said. “Now grab a blaster and help us shoot our way out.”

IG knew that the Mandalorian was in no condition to fight. It also knew that there was no scenario in which they could escape with the child if they decided to fight. There was only one solution.

“I cannot. Sadly there is no scenario where the child is saved in which I survive.”

Din wouldn’t accept this. Not after all they have been through. He was just starting to like this droid. There was no way he was going to let it go off and detonate itself.

“We need you. Let’s just come up with a…”

IG interrupted him.

“If you tell me the child will be safe with you I can default to my secondary command.”

“But you’ll be destroyed.” Din said grimly. 

“And you will live, and I will have served my purpose.”

Din suddenly felt his emotions swell inside him. Too many people have died protecting him. There was no way he was going to allow IG to do the same.

“No.” Din said as his voice cracked, betraying him. “We need you.” 

“There is nothing to be sad about. I have never been alive.” IG replied.

“I’m not….sad,” Din said unconvincingly.

“Yes you are. I am a nurse droid. I’ve analyzed your voice.”

Damn if that droid didn't just call Din out. 

IG reached out and gently stroked the child’s ear. Din felt a lump form in his throat that prevented him from speaking.

IG then made his way into the lava. Din heard Greef call out after IG, but he knew IG would not respond. 

The 4 of them watched as IG slowly trudged his way to the mouth of the cave. 

Din saw the troopers take aim at IG. Then the whole mouth of the cave disappeared in a violent explosion.

Din just stared out into the smoke. He never gave IG a reason to like him. He wondered if IG remembered that he was the one who killed him when they first met. 

Maybe IG was a testament to how well Quiil programmed him. Din had been nothing but rude to the droid, and yet the droid did everything in its power to protect the child and save his life. 

In a way, the droid showed the same patience, compassion and loyalty that Quiil had shown. 

And now IG gave his life to save theirs, just like Quiil did. Just like the Mandalorians did.

Din was dangerously close to collapsing under the weight of his own grief when he heard the distinct engine sounds of a TIE Fighter.

“It’s Moff Gideon,” Cara shouted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly this is was not my favorite chapter to write. Maybe it was because I lost so much of it early in the day and had a very hard time getting my head back into rewriting it. It ended up being much longer than I wanted, but there really wasn’t any part of the story I wrote that I wanted to leave out. 
> 
> Thank you for your continued support. I promise the next chapter will be a lot whumpier and have more original writing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kind words and support. I was really worried that I lost the integrity of the story when I had to start the 4th chapter over, but it really means the world to me that you all enjoyed it!! You all gave me the motivation to continue.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Din’s head shot up when he heard the familiar screams of the TIE fighter’s engines overhead. He ignored the way his vision blurred as he scanned the horizon. 

The fighter suddenly appeared in the distance and was making a beeline straight for them.

Din’s adrenaline was in overdrive again. Subconsciously he knew that, if he survived the day, he was going to sleep for a week just to recover from all the adrenaline spikes.

The TIE swooped down and began firing on them. They returned fire, but their blasters had no effect. 

“He missed!” Greef shouted in celebration, but Din knew that the Imp would not miss a second time.

That’s when Greef suggest they use the child to take down the fighter. 

“Come on, baby! Do the magic hand thing.” Greef pleaded while waving his fingers at the child. 

Cara stared at Greef like had lost his mind. Did he really just call the child’s powers the ‘magic hand thing’.

As absurd as it sounded, the three turned towards the child, who simply coo’ed and waved back at Greef.

Din’s mind was racing. He had to think of a way to get them to safety, but with Moff Gideon piloting a TIE fighter, they had no chance of escaping.

That’s when Din saw the jetpack. 

“Well I’m out of ideas.” Greef said defeatedly.

“I’m not” Din said, his voice full of determination. 

Din could already hear the TIE fighter closing in when Cara shouted that Gideon was coming back.

Quickly he grabbed his jetpack and slung it over his back. He grunted in pain when his ribs and shoulder screamed in protest to the added weight, but Din focused all of his attention on the approaching aircraft. 

As Gideon approached Din activated the jetpack. The engines ignited, startling Cara who was too focused on the TIE fighter to see what Din had been planning.

Din watched as the TIE fighter approached. He was using his visor to calculate the best time to make his move. 

Just as Gideon began to fire on them Din activated his jetpack and he shot up right in front of the fighter, barely clearing it before it zoomed past.

The move surprised Gideon which caused him to stop firing on Cara and Greef and focus his attention on the now airborne Mandalorian. 

Just as the TIE flew by the jetpacks engines powered off. Din was surprised it had worked for him at all, but now he only had a split second to make his next move.

He quickly shot at the fighter with his fibercord whip, praying it would connect to the spacecraft.

All Cara and Greef could do was look on in stunned amazement as they watched Mando soar into the air. 

The magnetic grappling hook at the end of the whip sunk into the arm of the TIE’s wing and before Din could react he was yanked violently behind the speeding spacecraft. 

Din felt an intense pain radiate from his right shoulder and he knew right away that he had dislocated it. 

Thankfully, his whip was attached to his bracer, so even though he didn’t have control over his arm he wasn’t in danger of falling to his death.

After a few chaotic seconds Din was able to swing his left arm and grab onto the right bracer. He then used his left hand and hit the button that would retract his whip, which shot him quickly onto the top of the TIE fighter.

Din stayed low on the fighter, trying hard not to fly off of it. He reached around and grabbed his blaster and attempted to shoot his way into the cockpit, but realistically there was now way he was going to be able to shoot his way in. 

Gideon saw that the Mandalorian was on top of his ship so he started pulling very jolting maneuvers in attempts to fling the bounty hunter off.

As the TIE fighter jerked to the left Din slammed into the arm of the right wing, which sent another jolt of blinding pain through his shoulder and arm. 

Thankfully, the force at which he slammed into the wing was enough to pop his shoulder back into place, at least enough where he had some use of the arm.

Din didn’t have time to think about the beating his body was taking. He was barely hanging onto the TIE fighter and he needed to disable it before he was tossed off of it.

Din reached for one of his explosives and attempted to slap it on the arm of the TIE’s wing.

Unfortunately, his shoulder protested painfully and Din lost his grip on the device.

Grunting painfully, Din was able to swing his right arm onto the arm of the TIE fighter. He had two more explosives left. This was his last chance.

Din took a deep breath and reached down and grabbed the remaining explosives. He kept his arm close to his body so he wouldn’t have to reach as far.

Din readies himself and swung his arm forward, this time he was able to grab onto the wing’s arm.

He steadied himself with his left arm and then slammed the explosives down onto the wing, activating them as he did. 

He grunted as another wave of pain rolled through his arm, but it didn't matter. He was out of time. He quickly let go of the TIE fighter.

As he fell he watched as the explosives when off, sending the TIE fighter spiraling out of control and crashing down towards the ground.

Once the threat was eliminated Din quickly realized he was still free falling towards the ground.

He tried to activate the jetpack again, but it didn’t work.

Panic quickly set in as he was getting dangerously close to the ground. He tried to activate the jetpack again, and thankfully it decided to fire up.

The jetpack slowed Din’s decent enough so he was able to land on his feet without breaking every bone in his body. 

The momentum nearly brought Din to his knees, but he was able to stand back up. He glanced behind him and saw the smoke from the TIE wreckage.

He couldn’t believe his crazy plan worked. Not that it was much of a plan. Once he was airborne he had no idea what he would do, but by some miracle he was able to defeat Gideon. 

Cara wasn’t impressed by much, but watching Mando take down a TIE fighter with nothing more than a whip cable and some small charges definitely topped the list of things that truly impressed her. 

Her heart sank when Mando was falling back to earth, but in true Mando style he managed to save his neck at the last second.

“Very impressive Mando.” Greef said as he and Cara walked up to greet him.

Din’s adrenaline was still going strong. He needed to be sure there weren’t more hidden threats around them.

“Anymore Stormtroopers?” Din asked as he scanned the area around them.

Cara chuckled. “I think we cleaned up the town.”

Greef strolled up to Mando, “It looks like your guild rates have just gone up.” he said with a chuckle, slapping his hand on Mando’s shoulder.

That simple slap on the shoulder proved to be the proverbial straw.

Din felt an explosion of pain blossom in his shoulder, and he couldn’t bite back the painful gasp that escaped his mouth. 

He instinctively reached his ‘good’ hand up towards his now throbbing shoulder when his ribs decided they were done being jostled around. 

Din suddenly felt sharp pains in his chest. He attempted to take a deep breath to calm the panic that was starting to well up inside him, but this only made the pain in his chest worse. 

His head was the next to betray him. The pain mixed with the fact that his adrenalin was no longer helping keep his head clear caused his vision to swim and he suddenly found himself stumbling and falling painfully to one knee.

Greef pulled his hand back the second Din gasped in pain. He stared on in stunned silence as the bounty hunter was overcome with pain.

Cara, who was still a few paces away from Mando, saw how painfully he reacted to Greef’s touch and knew that he was in trouble. 

She ran to his side just as he swayed and dropped to his knee. 

Thankfully, Cara had quick reflexes, because the second Mando’s knee hit the ground his body was already pitching to the side.

“Shit…” she said under her breath as she dropped down to her knees and pushed her hands up against Mando’s chest in order to keep him from face planting into the dirt. Once she had him upright she moved one of her arms behind him and placed it on his back to stabilize him. 

Cara tried her best to avoid touching Mando’s right shoulder. Judging by how badly he reacted when Greef touched it, she could only assume he injured it during the TIE fight. 

The child, who was still strapped to Cara, could only watch as his caretaker was overcome with pain. 

Din was only vaguely aware that Cara was next to him. In that moment it felt like his body was playing a cruel game of “who had it worse” as every inch of his body screamed in pain. 

“What’s wrong with him?!” Greef asked, still shocked at the sudden change in the Mandalorian’s condition. 

Cara didn’t respond. She stared into Mando’s visor, praying he was able to see her.

“Hey buddy, you have to tell me what’s wrong,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Din slowly looked up at her, but his vision started to swim and he slammed his eyes shut. 

He wanted to tell her what was wrong, but the second he tried to speak his ribs sent another wave of stabbing pain through him, and all he could do was gasp in pain and wrap his arms protectively around his body.

Cara tried her best to appear calm, but inside she was in a full blown panic. She knew Mando was in rough shape, and that little stunt with the TIE fighter clearly didn’t help. 

She found she was having to take on more of Mando’s weight to keep him upright. 

She looked up at Greef. “Do you have any medical aid supplies nearby?!” 

Greef shook his head. “No, once the Imperials showed up they took all my supplies.”

“Damnit.” Cara said, her frustration getting the better of her.

She looked back at Mando. He was swaying and his head was starting to drop down, and Cara knew that he was dangerously close to losing consciousness. 

“Hey,” she said, dropping her head down so she could look directly in his visor.

Din kept his eyes shut, but he was still able to hear her. 

“I know you’re hurting right now, but I need to know if you have any medical supplies on your ship?” 

Din heard her but he had a very hard time concentrating on what she actually said. Something about medical supplies. Did he have medical supplies? 

Din was hit with a sudden wave of nausea, his vision beginning to darken around the edges. He had a brief memory of having some first aid supplies in his quarters. 

Din nodded slowly, and that was all Cara needed. Now she just needed to figure out a way to get Mando back to his ship.

She knew where the ship was parked, but it was a good 30 minute walk from where they were. 

She looked around to see if she could see anything that could help them transport Mando safely to his ship, but all she saw was sand and rocks. 

She looked down towards the ground, desperately trying to think of a plan. There was only one way.

She looked back at Mando. “Listen, we need to get you to your ship. Do you think. you can stand?

If Din could laugh he would have. He was a struggle for him to breathe, he was pretty sure walking was going to be out of the question.

Still, he knew that they didn’t have another option. He gave another slow nod.

Cara looked up at Greef. “Get over here and help me lift him up!”

Greef was not a fan of this plan. All he did was touch Mando on the shoulder and that was enough to drop the bounty hunter to his knees. He definitely didn’t want to pull the man up by his arm. 

“Greef! Now!” Cara shouted impatiently.

Greef made his way to her. “There has to be another way,” he said.

“If you have a better plan I would love to hear it!” Cara spat.

Greef just growled in frustration. He knew they didn’t have another option. 

Cara had already positioned herself to the right of Mando. If his shoulder was injured she was going to make sure she didn’t injure it further.

She nodded to Greef, who then knelt down and gently placed Mando’s left arm across his neck. 

The movement, as gentle as it was, still made his chest scream in pain, but he bit his lip and only let out a pained moan.

Cara decided it was best to just let his right arm hang down. She gently placed his arm so it was hanging in front of his body. She then adjusted the satchel the baby was in so that the baby was on her back. 

Cara brought her arms around his waist and placed her shoulder directly behind his to help hold him up.

“You ready Mando?” Cara warned. 

Din wasn’t ready, but he nodded anyway.

She looked to Greef. “Okay, we lift slowly on three. One….two….three.”

Slowly Greef and Cara stood up and this time Din couldn’t bite back the yelp of pain. 

As soon as Din was upright he cracked open his eyes. This proved to be a huge mistake. The world suddenly swam in front of him and he was hit with a debilitating wave of dizziness. 

He shut his eyes but his dizziness only worsened. 

“Easy there big guy,” Cara said, readjusting her grip when she felt Mando starting to sway on his feet. 

Cara sounded like she was under water. Din tried to breath through the dizziness, but his ribs protested painfully. He tried to take another breath, but found he couldn't. Din started to panic. 

Cara could hear Mando begin to hyperventilate. She knew she had to get him to slow his breathing down otherwise he would pass out.

“”Mando! Listen to my voice. You need to slow your breathing down otherwise you’re going to pass out!”

Din didn’t hear her. Darkness was already engulfing him.

Cara could feel Mando starting to pitch to the side. 

“Come on Mando,” she said, panic starting to seep through her words. “You need to stay with us!”

The hunter’s body only swayed more and suddenly his knees buckled. 

“Mando!” Cara shouted, no longer hiding the fear and panic in her voice. “Mando! Din!!” 

Din did not respond.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot express how grateful I am for all of you!! Thank you for the positive comments!!!

“Din!” Cara shouted as he collapsed into her arms, the panic she felt on full display. 

“Mando! Come on, you gotta wake up!!” Greef shouted as she tried to shake the unconscious man awake, but Mando didn’t stir. 

Cara readjusted her grip so Din’s arm was slung around her neck. 

She wanted nothing more than to lie the man down and assess his injuries, but there was no way she would be able to treat him without medical supplies.

“Now what?” Greef asked.

“What do you mean ‘now what’? We carry him back to his ship and pray he has medical supplies.” Cara shot back. 

Greef nodded, knowing full well that they were out of ideas. The town was destroyed and he was pretty sure the Imperials cleaned out all their stores. 

At least between the two of them they were able to hold Din up with little issue. Still, it was going to be a slow journey back to the Razor Crest. 

Din hung limply off the duo’s shoulders, the tips of his toes scraping the ground as they made their way towards the ship. 

He would let out a low, quiet groan occasionally but he never regained consciousness. It was probably a blessing in disguise that Din was out cold for the trek back to the ship. 

Cara wasn’t sure how long it took, but the Razor Crest finally appeared in the distance. 

There were two things Cara noticed right away that made her sigh in relief. 

The first was the ship looked intact which meant the Jawa hadn’t discovered it. 

The second was the ramp to the ship was already lowered. 

As they neared the ramp Cara saw something lying in the dirt. 

Her heart sank when she saw the body of the Ugnaught sprawled out on the ground, not 10 feet away from the ship’s ramp. 

Guilt suddenly washed over her. She felt ashamed that she has doubted the Ugnaught’s loyalty. 

Quiil she reminded herself; his name was Quiil. 

It wasn’t Quiil’s fault he was sold into Imperial servitude and she was wrong to imply that he had cut some sort of deal with the Empire in order to escape.

As they neared his body Cara heard a low coo’ing sound come from the child. He sounded sad. 

Quiil had given his life to protect the child, and Cara knew that Quiil would have died happy knowing that he kept the child safe. 

She also knew he would have been proud of IG’s actions that day. Had it not been for the droid they would all be dead. 

They got Din into his ship and started looking for a suitable place to lie him down. Normally she would lie him on his cot, but he cot was built into the wall, so she would have no way to examine him. 

They found a table off to the side which held various items that Din used to clean and repair his weapons and armor. 

Cara nodded towards the table, which Greef took as a sign to clear it off. He leaned over and swiped all the items off the table with his free hand. 

The two repositioned themselves so Cara was holding Din under his arms. This allowed Greef to grab Din’s legs and together they lifted him up and laid him on the table. 

Din’s head lulled to the side, showing no signs of waking. 

“Ok,” Cara said, thinking out loud. “He hinted that he had medical supplies on this ship.” 

She turned to Greef. “I need you to look for his supplies while I try to remove his armor. I need to see what we’re dealing with.”

As she spoke she carefully removed the bag containing the child and placed it on the round next to her. His big ears drooped down and his eyes were full of concern.

“Don’t worry little one,” Cara whispered. “He’s going to be ok.” The child just blinked at her and turned his head to caretaker, ears still droopy. 

Greef glanced around the ship. “I’ll check the refresher and his bunk, hopefully he keeps his supplies there.” 

As soon as Greef stepped away Cara started trying to figure out how to remove the beskar armor. 

She quickly realized that the beskar plates were attached to panels that were connected to the dark shirt and pants Din wore under his armor. She managed to detach the plates that lined his arms and legs and remove his bracers and gloves. 

She realized this was the first time she saw any resemblance of a living being under the Mandalorian armor. His hands, though covered in cuts and dried blood, were very much human. 

Cara could also make out multiple gashes to the material of his shirt and pants, which were darkened by what she could only assume was more blood. 

She went to work removing Din’s pauldrons and chest plate.

She realized that she would need to roll Din over on his side so she could remove the armor lining his back.

She heard Greef walking up from behind.

“Any luck?” Cara asked.

Greef sighed. “No.”

Cara groaned in frustration.

“Help me sit him so I can remove the rest of his armor.”

Greef leaned over and wrapped his arms around Mando’s torso. He looked at Cara, and when she nodded he pulled Mando up. He propped Mando up against his chest, the Mandalorian’s head resting on his shoulder. 

Cara went to work taking off the remaining pieces of beskar. 

Once his body was free of the beskar plates Cara went to work on removing his shirt. She slowly slipped his arms out of the sleeves and carefully pulled the shirt over his helmet.

When she was done Greef lowered Mando back onto the table. 

Cara couldn’t believe the state Din was in. His body was covered with a patchwork of deep bruises and lacerations. 

The two looked at each other, both shocked and a bit panicked. 

The worst of the bruising was around Din’s rib cage and right shoulder. Cara also noticed his shoulder didn’t look right. 

She reached out and carefully pressed her fingers around his shoulder. She had dislocated her shoulder enough times to recognize that his shoulder joint wasn’t completely in the socket. 

“His shoulder is partially dislocated,” she said more to herself than to Greef. “The fool probably dislocated it when he decided to lasso the TIE mid-flight.”

Cara also took note of the bruising under where Din’s beskar plates would had sat. She knew the beskar could deflect blaster shots, but judging by how Din reacted to being shot in the armor she had no doubt it still packed a punch. 

Her fingers traced down to his ribcage. She didn’t need to feel around to know that he had multiple broken ribs. The skin was nothing more than a blossom of deep purple and blue bruising. 

“I’m going to reset his shoulder.” Cara finally decided.

Greef looked at her like she was crazy. “Are you serious?” 

“I’d rather do it now while he is out cold than do it when he is awake. It’s not exactly a pleasant experience.” Cara argued back.

Greef couldn’t argue her logic.

Cara grabbed Din’s right arm and held it straight in front of him.

She looked at Greef. “I need you to hold his arm straight out just like this,” she said. “Keep it sturdy.”

Greef did as she asked. He knew the Shocktrooper probably had a lot of experience treating such injuries. 

Once Greef had Din’s arm secure she went to his shoulder and felt around for a few seconds before placing her palm over his shoulder. 

“On three I want you to pull his arm while I push down. That should pop the joint back into place.”

Greef was not comfortable with this plan at all, but he nodded and braced himself.

“One...two...three…”

Together Greef pulled up on Din’s arm and Cara pushed down on his shoulder, and she felt the familiar pop that let her know the joint was back in place.

What they didn’t expect was Din to suddenly wake up.

———————————————————————————————————

Din’s consciousness floated in a blissful sea of darkness. Occasionally a glimmer of light would try to make its way to him, but the darkness would quickly overcome it. 

Din welcomed the darkness. 

Suddenly a blinding wave of pain ripped through his body and it yanked him back into consciousness. 

Din was completely disoriented when he came to. All he knew was that he felt himself being restrained. 

Din shot up, knocking Cara off balance and startling Greef so badly he stumbled and fell back. 

He swung wildly with his left hand, just catching Cara on the jaw. 

The movement made his ribs scream in protest, and Din doubled over on himself. Through the disorientating pain Din noticed a total lack of beskar armor covering his body. 

This made Din panic more. Had he been captured? He could tell his helmet was still in place and he would fight with all he had to make sure it remained. 

Cara held her now aching jaw in her hand, her brain still trying to process what just happened. 

She quickly recovered when she saw Din panicking. 

She stepped over a still stunned Greef and grabbed Din by his arms. 

Din reacted by taking another wild swing her way, but this time she was able to dodge it. 

Din yelped in pain and Cara knew she had to get him to relax before he injured himself more. 

She quickly grabbed him by his forearms and held them close to her body. 

Din felt someone try to restrain him and his mind clicked into fight or flight, but being a Mandalorian his instinct was to fight. 

His panic only worsened when he couldn’t escape the mystery attacker’s grip. 

Struggled as he did he lacked the strength to escape the person’s grip and exhaustion was quickly setting in. 

Meanwhile, Cara was doing everything she could to snap Din out of his panicked state.

“Mando! Calm down! It’s me….Cara!” 

Din didn’t seem to hear her as he continued to struggle. 

“Din! Please calm down!!” she pleaded. 

Maybe it was the use of his real name, but Din’s mind was finally able grabbed onto the distressed pleas of his friend. 

Din froze for a moment. He could feel the mental fog he was in begin to clear.

Cara saw her chance and she let go of one of his arms and placed it on the side of his helmet. She leaned in close so she could look directly into his visor. 

“Din…” Cara said gently. “You in there buddy?” She tried to ignore how ragged his breathing sounded.

Din didn’t move. He knew that voice. Slowly his vision cleared and he saw a woman staring directly at him. 

Then it clicked. 

“...Cara?” Din gasped, his voice gravely and unfamiliar. 

Cara choked back a sob of relief. 

“Yeah, it’s me” she said, her emotions threatening to get the better of her. 

Greef finally took this time to stand up. He would had bet credits that Cara was going to have to knock the panicked Mandalorian out to get him to stop. 

Din went to ask Cara what happened, but his body decided now was a great time to remind him that he got blown up. 

Din gasped as the pain ramped up in his body. It was so intense that he doubled up on himself and nearly tipped off the table. 

Fortunately Cara was right there and caught him before he tumbled to the floor. 

Unfortunately Din’s pain only intensified when Cara caught him, and dark spots danced across his vision as he gasped for air, the darkness threatening to overtake him. 

Cara just held him, too afraid to move him. The sound of his breathing was really worrying her. It was getting more labored and ragged with each passing minute. 

“Breath Din. Just breath,” she said calmly. “I don’t want to tell people you died falling off a table.” 

Cara hoped a little humor would help relax them both.

Din couldn’t help but scoff at the idea. 

After a moment Cara was able to slowly guide Din down so he was lying back on the table. 

She could hear Din struggling to breath behind his helmet. 

“Where do you keep your medical supplies?” she asked. 

Din glances off to the side and pointed a shaky finger at a wall locker behind Greef. 

Greed turned and went straight to the locker. 

Cara felt something tug at her leg. She looked down and saw the child, who was clearly distressed.

“There’s nothing in here but a medisensor and a few spray-bandages” Greef said as he held out a nearly empty medpac.

“We need Bacta!” Cara shouted.

She felt another tug at her leg, and it suddenly dawned on her why the child was trying to get her attention. 

She looked at Din, unsure what to do. 

“Hey,” she said getting Din’s attention. “Should we let the child heal you?”

“No!” Din gasped almost immediately. 

“Why not? He was able to heal Greef,” Cara argued. 

“She’s right,” Greef said. “I was as good as dead before he healed me.” 

“No!” Din said with more force than before. “He… needs time… to… recover...from earlier.” 

Cara looked down at the child. She didn’t doubt that the child would heal Din, but he was right to worry. They didn’t know what would happen if the child overexerted himself. 

The kid had just saved them from a giant fireball and thrown it back at the incinerator stormtrooper a few hours prior. 

Greef walked over with the medisensor and spray-bandages. 

“This won’t do much,” he said. “We need to get him to a healer.” 

“No,” Cara argued. “We can’t risk going to a populated port. We can’t risk running into another hunter.”

“Well what do you suggest we do?” Greef countered.

Cara thought for a moment. Then it hit her. 

“I know exactly where to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bye bye winter break.  
> I won’t be posting as often going forward because I work for a school and we go back to work Monday.  
> That being said I will still work on this story daily, I just might not have a whole chapter done within a day.  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Made some edits to this chapter. Thank you Longlivetheclones for your critique.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday all!!!  
> I cannot tell you how much your kind words mean to me. I am starting to get very self conscious about the whole thing and I get nervous to read the comments because I am not simply retelling the episode anymore, but you all are fantastic and are the reason I continue writing.
> 
> This chapter isn’t as long as the others, but I felt I needed to add a bit more to get my story into its next phase. I really hope you enjoy it and, again, thank you all for your amazing support!!!

Din felt like shit.

The events of the day were just a blur to him. He vaguely remembered the fight with the Imperial troopers, but that was about it. 

He noticed Cara and Greef talking off to his left, but he wasn’t able to focus long enough on what they were saying. 

Now that there was no immediate threat to his life he was becoming painfully aware of the beating he took that day. 

It felt as if every inch of his body hurt. His ribs and chest hurt the most, no thanks to his pathetic attempts to fight off who he thought captured him. 

Even the act of breathing caused him pain. Try as he did, he couldn’t take in a full breath. 

Besides the pain that shot through him every time he tried to take a deep breath, he felt as if there was this heavy pressure pushing on his chest. It felt as if there was a blurrg was sitting right on top of him. 

Then there was his head. He was pretty sure this was the worst headache he had ever experienced. It felt like his head was being squeezed in a vice. 

There was also the issue of his memory. Try as he did, he couldn’t remember what happened to land him in such a state. All he had were quick flashes of a battle, of Imperials, and the kid magically holding off a wall of fire, but that was all.

Din hated this sluggish, confused feeling. He was never the biggest or strongest hunter, but he was one of the smartest. He was also beginning to feel very light-headed. 

“Din!!” 

Hearing his name snapped him back to the present. Slowly Cara came back into focus and she looked like she was about to panic.  
————————————————————————  
Cara had just wrapped up her conversation with Greef and returned her attention back to Din.

His breathing was still labored, but he seemed to be noticibly calmer.

She took the medisensor and began doing a quick scan of his injuries. 

The scanner almost immediately started listing the results. Cara began to read them outloud. 

“Multiple contusions and lacerations, like we needed this stupid thing to tell us that” she said sarcastically. 

She continued.“Tears to the ligaments in your shoulder, also not a surprise considering you dislocated it.”

She paused to read the next set of results. “Your respiration rate and heart rate is high, but that could be due to the pain. Your O2 level is low though….” she trailed off. That reading concerned her. 

The scanner started to beep, indicating that it had found more severe injuries.

“7 broken ribs. Damn.” Cara was surprised Din was able to stand at all, let alone continue fighting.

The scanner beeps again, and what she saw made her heart stop.

‘Punctured lung.’

“Damnit!” Cara said under her breath. She had a suspicion that he had broken his ribs in the explosion but that little stunt with the TIE fighter obviously didn’t help. He had a Bacta infusion, but they didn’t have the time to allow it to fully take effect. 

She also realized they lacked any necessary supplies to properly treat his injuries. 

She looked at Din, and realized she had not seen him move in the last few minutes.

“Hey buddy, you still with me?” she asked, .

No response.

“Hey, now is not the time for a nap!” She wanted to shake him, but she couldn’t risk injuring him further.

Cara was beginning to panic. It didn’t help that she couldn’t actually see his face. Were his lips blue? Was he even conscious? She wanted nothing more than to remove his helmet, but she knew that he would never forgive her if she did. 

She realized she didn’t even run the scanner over his head. She wondered if it would even be able to penetrate through the beskar.

She called to him again. “Din?”

Still nothing.

She took his hand into hers. “Din!” 

She noticed Din tilt his head slowly and purposely towards her. 

“You back with me buddy?” she asked.

After a few seconds she heard a raspy “Yeah”. 

Relief washed over Cara. She was worried he had passed out again. 

“Good. Listen, I know you feel like shit, but you need to try to stay awake ok. We are going to get you help but you need to stay with me. Got it!”. 

Din recognized the panic in her words. He couldn't help but feel guilty for putting her through all of this. He had been the one to drag her back into his fight. 

Din also recognized the familiar hum of the Razor Crest engines. Had they taken off?

“Whre...we...going?” He panted.

“Someplace safe” Cara responded.   
——————————————————  
Greef was piloting the Razor Crest. Cara had given him coordinates to a nearby planet. She assured him it would be a safe place to lay low for a few weeks. 

Once the ship was clear of Nevarro’s orbit he punched in the quardenants. The ship maneuvered towards its destination and powered up its hyperdrives. After a few moments they flew off into hyperspace. 

It didn’t take very long for the ship to exit hyperspace. Greef saw a green, forested planet in the distance. 

The ships scanners began to read off the status of the planet. 

No star ports, no industrial centers, no real population density say for a few farming villages. Greef immediately understood why Cara would chose this planet. 

Greef took over the controls and headed to the coordinates that Cara listed for him. 

“Looks like Sorgan is going to be our home for a while”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to get the story set up so that the next chapter can take place on Sorgan.  
> I am hoping to get the next chapter up by Tuesday. That will give me parts of today and parts of tomorrow to work on it.  
> My hopes going forward is to have a new chapter out every two days or so.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it took me so long to update this story. I had half of it written and then my whole family got sick. It felt like each week someone was sick, whether it was me, my kids or my husband. I was finally able to return to this chapter and finish it. It’s not as long as I wanted but hopefully I can turn out the next chapter this week.

Winta was off playing hide and seek in a nearby field with some of the other children from the village. 

It was nice to be able to run and play and not have to worry about staying in sight of the adults. 

It wasn’t that long ago that the children were not allowed to wander outside the village. The risk from a raider attack was too great. 

That was before the Mandalorian showed up with his funny looking green child. 

She was scared of the shiny stranger when he first arrived. His armor and weapons were intimidating and he was always on edge. He was quick to reach for his blaster the second anyone approached him unexpectedly. 

The child, however, was the complete opposite. 

He was really small with big, dark, innocent eyes, huge pointy ears and wrinkled green skin.

He looked like a combination of a baby and an old man. In comparison to his armorer caretaker the child looked completely harmless.

Winta and the other children fell in love with him instantly. They loved watching him waddle around, catching frogs and chasing krill. 

Over time, Winta also grew to like the Mandalorian. 

Despite his cold exterior, Winta was able to see that the Mandalorian cared deeply for the child. 

Winta could also see that the Mandalorian cared for the villagers. He seemed to understand how important the village was to them. That became obvious the minute he agreed to help them fight off the raiders. 

She remembered the day when the Mandalorian came up to her and asked if she could take care of the child for him while he trained the villagers. 

His demeanor was completely different than what she was used to. He knelt down in front of her so he was at eye level with her. 

“I need someone I can trust to look after this little womp rat. Do you think you could do that for me?” 

His voice was gentler than normal and he suddenly appeared more human to her than he did before. 

It was like she could finally see the person behind the mask. 

She straightened up and, in the most serious voice she could conjure, said, “Yes. I will protect him with my life.” 

The Mandalorian let out a soft chuckle, placed his hand gently on her shoulder and said, “This is the way.”

In that moment she felt a bond form between them. The Mandalorian trusted her with his child and she wanted nothing more than to prove to him that she would not fail. 

Winta has never been as scared as she was the night of the battle. She was hiding along with all the other children while the sounds of screaming, gunfire and explosions rang through the night.

She held onto the child, determined not to let the Mandalorian down. She saw the child like a brother and she would do everything she could to protect him. 

Thankfully they had won the battle, and in the weeks that followed she spent most of her time watching and playing with the child while the adults cleaned up and repaired the village.

Winta has hoped that the Mandalorian and the child would stay in the village for good, but then a hunter showed up and tried to kill the child. 

Deep down she understood why they had to leave, but it didn’t make saying goodbye any easier. 

That was a few months ago, and even though life in the village was good Winta still missed her friends. 

Cara stayed behind and would visit the village a couple times a month to make sure they were doing well. Winta would always ask her if she had heard from the Mandalorian, and each time Cara shook her head no. 

“Found you,” one of the children yelled, snapping Winta from her memories. 

She laughed and chased the child, but stopped a few seconds later when she heard faint engine sounds coming from somewhere in the distance. 

She paused and looked up towards the sky as the other children continued their game.

As the engine sounds grew louder the rest of the children froze and looked up at the sky. Fear quickly sank in as they looked at one another, silently debating whether or not to hide in place or run back to the village. 

Winta and the others ducked down into the grass as the ship appeared over the horizon. Winta stared at it as it got closer.

There was this odd sense of familiarity to the ship that Winta was trying hard to place. 

The ship slowed as it approached the field they were hiding in. The other children shouted in alarm and bolted for the tree line. 

Winta didn’t move despite the other children shouting for her to run. She was sure she had seen this ship before. 

Then it hit her. A flash of memory of the same ship flying over their village months prior. The same ship that two of the villagers set out towards in hopes that whoever was on board could help them with the raiders. 

A smile grew on Winta’s face as the ship hovered over the field, preparing to land. 

She stepped back so she was far enough away from the ship as it landed. As soon as it touched down ran up to it.

She heard the frantic cries from her friends, who were still hiding, begging her to get away from the ship. 

She turned back to them, a huge smile still spread across her face. 

“It’s the Mandalorian!” she shouted. The children’s shouting stopped but she could tell they were still skeptical. 

Her attention quickly snapped back to the ship as the ramp began to open up. 

She couldn’t wait to hug her little green friend again. 

————————————————————-  
Cara cursed at how long it was taking to get to Sorgan. The trip only took about 20 minutes, but to her it felt like an eternity. 

She had bandaged up what wounds she could without disturbing Din too much. Not that it helped his overall condition. 

They weren’t 10 minutes into the flight when Din lost consciousness again. This time she didn’t try to wake him up. She knew there was no point, not when she had no way to heal his most serious injuries. 

His breathing continued to deteriorate during the trip, which only made Cara’s fear worsen. She was beginning to wonder if he would survive long enough to get to Sorgan. 

Cara kept her fingers on Din’s wrist to monitor his pulse. His pulse was thready and weak, but it was there, and right now that was all she needed to keep her from breaking down. 

Finally she felt the familiar slowing of the ship as it prepared to land. Cara got up and readied herself as the ship finally touched the ground. 

As the ramp began to lower Cara glanced over at Din. She prayed it would not be the last time she would see her friend alive.

With the ramp finally lowered Cara made her way out into the open field and was immediately greeted by a very excited young girl.

“Cara! It’s you!!” Winta greeted excitedly. Winta has not expected to see the shock trooper exiting the ship, but she was happy to see her nonetheless. 

“Winta?!” Cara asked, still surprised to see the young girl at the end of the ramp. 

Winta lit up and nodded. She was about to ask to see her little green friend when Cara rushes towards her. 

“Where’s your mother?!” Cara demanded, not meaning to come across as stern as she did. 

Winta, shocked by Cara’s tone, took a few steps back, half expecting the woman to shout at her for playing so far from the village. 

Cara saw the confusion on the young girl’s face. 

“Sorry. Listen, I need to speak to your mom. Please tell me she is nearby.”

Winta nodded, still confused at Cara’s behavior. 

“She’s in the village” Winta answered. She we beginning to sense that something was seriously wrong. 

“Good! I need you to take me to her”. The tone in Cara’s voice left no room for debate. Winta nodded and turned and ran towards the village, Cara right on her heels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is a bit dull. was hoping to get more done, but between work, everyone getting sick, and packing to move in three weeks (yay for a new house), I just didn’t have the time. I’m hoping to get another chapter out to you all this week.   
> Thanks again for all your amazing support!!! Your support is what’s keeping me focused on finishing this!


End file.
